


The Viper's Wife

by AllonsyMiddleEarth



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Dorne, F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-02-08 08:16:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1933605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllonsyMiddleEarth/pseuds/AllonsyMiddleEarth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Jeya, a ward of Tywin Lannister's, is married to Oberyn, and how that affects his future. And, of course, hers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. At Casterly Rock

Jeya had been lying on the hard stone floor for nearly an hour, one ear pressed to the gaps in the stones so she could hear what Tywin was saying in the room below.   
  
“It is settled, then? Dorne will accept the marriage?” The scrapes of a wood chair against the floor told her that Tywin had stood.  
  
“Prince Doran wishes me to meet her first and he awaits my return raven before he will give his official word,” the knight from Dorne responded. Jeya hadn’t quite caught his name. Under normal circumstances someone like Tywin might have told her that someone like him was coming. But here, even though she was Tywin’s ward, decisions of her fate didn’t involve her at all.   
  
“We will all dine together tonight,” Tywin offered, and the lord agreed, then the scrape of his chair and the two sets of footsteps fading told her they had left the room. Jeya scrambled away to get to in another part of the castle, as usual, so no one would suspect where she had been eavesdropping moments before.  
  
 _Dorne,_ she kept thinking. _They’re trying to wed me to the Red Viper of Dorne._  
  
She knew little of him, but she liked the thought much less than the earlier ideas Tywin had had for her, of nobles in the North, where he felt alliances needed to be strengthened and wished to use her for that.   
  
But _Dorne._ That had certainly been unexpected; why would Dorne even want this alliance? Surely Oberyn Martell might be less desirable to many, being one with so fearsome and… impure a reputation, but he was still a Prince of Dorne, it was odd for a Prince of Dorne to marry the daughter of only a lord from a small house, even if her father, or mother, were still alive to make the alliance. And as they were not, that responsibility was Tywin's. From listening in on his counsels, Jeya knew Tywin feared the hatred the Martells had for the Lannisters, and she wondered why they would be willing to marry Prince Oberyn to someone Tywin offered. Besides, they weren’t even here to meet her, just some knight. There must be more about the situation she didn’t know. Or perhaps it was true what was joked about: that sun in Dorne truly was hot enough to drive it’s inhabitants mad.  
  
Jeya slipped back into her room without running into anyone and nervously stared out the tiny window she had. The view was terrible, but that could just be because she found the entirety of Casterly Rock hideous. Usually she loved the sea, but the way the water here beat the shores so violently and the way the entire castle was made of stone that seemed to constantly ooze the cold and damp made her hate it, not to mention how much it felt like a prison. Moving to the sole decoration her chambers had, Jeya ran her fingertips over the cloth of the the small banner bearing her house’s emblem: a lone white songbird perched in a white tree against a periwinkle background. It was a reminder; Tywin could take her present and control her future, but he could not have her past. She was still the lady of House Tallerly, would have been heir to Woodhall, had things been different. Even if she was the last, she was the last songbird. The last songbird ending a dying House, to be wed to a viper.   
  
_Snakes have been known to swallow birds whole,_ she thought uncomfortably.   
  
Jeya wondered if she might get away with sneaking off to the library to find books on Dorne to read. She knew very little about it, really. But if she took them before Tywin told her anything then he may suspect what she knew, and if Tywin ever had any idea that she had found ways to listen in on his private councils she didn’t like to think what he would do.   
  
Her maid, Brynn, was her closest friend here, but she told Brynn nothing of what she had heard, not yet, and she pretended surprise when someone came to tell her she would be dining with Tywin and his guest tonight.   
  
Luckily she did not have to sit too close to Tywin, and it was the knight from Dorne, Ser Deziel Dalt, who sat on her right, one of his companions to her left. They were enjoyable to talk to, and if Tywin hadn’t been only a small ways away giving her glares every time she smiled at anyone or anything, it might have almost been a pleasant evening. 

  
  
The next morning was a busier day for the servants, and there were too many people about for her to risk sneaking to any of the spots from which she could hear Tywin’s counsels.    
  
Jeya finally had to confess to her maid, Brynn, why she was so anxious all day, and why she had gotten so many books on Dorne. She figured that her excuse if Tywin asked would simply be that dining with the Dornish guests piqued her interest, but Brynn she didn’t lie to.   
  
“But you would be a princess!” Brynn told her excitedly.   
  
“A princess wed to a terrifying man, if legends tell truth.” She responded.    
  
Jeya had learned that Oberyn had just turned nine and thirty, to her two and twenty, which was not considered a large age difference perhaps, but certainly seemed large to her. She learned that Oberyn had a daughter a year older than her, and that when he had been younger and rode in tourneys he very, very rarely lost. She learned that he had fought with the Second Sons, forged six links of a Maester’s chain, been, for all intents and purposes, exiled as a young teen for poisoning a Lord whose paramour he had bedded. Though those were all rumors. He also had a paramour named Ellaria who was three and ten years her senior, and they had four daughters together, giving Oberyn eight daughters- called the Sand Snakes for the infamous dangerous qualities the older ones were known for around Dorne. She learned that he was supposedly greatly learned and known to be a great horseman, so at least those two things she might be able to have in common with him. Perhaps. Also spread throughout some of the things she had found to read were all the rumors of the many, many lovers he had been said to have had and there were a great number named, from all over.    
  
Dorne itself sounded nice; the sea, the sun, the sand, the ancient stronghold of the Martells called Sunspear, the summer palace called the Water Gardens, good food and good wine, and a more liberal culture than the rest of Westeros. But given much of what she had read of Oberyn Martell, Jeya thought she would rather have a life married to some Lord up in the North, even if she did hate the cold.   
  
It didn’t take many more days of waiting before Tywin called her into his counsel to tell her that the match had been made- she was to be wed to the Red Viper of Dorne, and they would be leaving for Sunspear in less than a fortnight.


	2. Oberyn

“Why?” Oberyn raged at his brother. “What possible madness possessed you to match me off to a _Lannister_ agreement, of all kinds, especially without even bothering to warn me you were considering it?”  
  
“It is necessary that we give Tywin things he wants, if we want to come out on top in the end.”  
  
“Easy to say when YOU are not the one actually affected by this decision!” Oberyn was yelling, but Doran, as usual, never raised his voice.  
  
“I had Ser Deziel Dalt meet her and he says she is very lovely. Besides, Oberyn, I know you have made it this long, but did you truly think you would never have to marry? And you are not exactly the most desirable of candidates to all.”  
  
“I have a _daughter older than her.”_  
  
“You have taken younger lovers before, have you not? Why should this be different?”  
  
“Because I chose them, and they me.”

“Yes. But perhaps she will like you, and you her.”

“And perhaps not!” The Red Viper glared. “What if I refuse?”  
  
“You can not.” Doran wheeled his chair away from his brother. “I am sorry, Oberyn.”

 

 

When Oberyn stormed into his chambers, Ellaria knew right away that something must have happened.  
  
He said nothing, though, just wrapped her in his arms and kissed her fiercely.  
  
“Oberyn, love, what has happened? Tell me.”  
  
He did not, only capturing her lips in his again She didn’t have any desire to protest, but the unusual roughness in him made her worry, and she asked him again.  
  
“My love, what is wrong?”  
  
Oberyn sighed, turning his face from her.  
  
“I am to be wed,” he said flatly.  
  
Ellaria gasped. “To whom?”  
  
“Some ward of Tywin Lannister.”  
  
“A Lannister?” Ellaria mused. “She probably knows a thousand ways to have me killed if she decides she does not like me. Like that great cousin of yours’ wife; everyone knew she poisoned his paramour but no one ever proved it.”  
  
“I will _not_ let that happen,” Oberyn growled, turning to her. “I’ll kill her first if I have to.”  
  
“That is no way to speak of your future wife,” Ellaria told him, then sighed. “We always knew this may happen.”  
  
“Nothing will change.”  
  
“Everything will change,” Ellaria countered, kissing his cheek. “But not us.”  
  
Oberyn stared furiously at his curtains and said nothing.  
  
“What do you know of her?” Ellaria asked softly.  
  
“She is a ward of Tywin’s, apparently her parents died some time ago, and she has been living at the Rock. Deziel Dalt says that she is _“lovely”_ whatever that means. Apparently she is very pretty. She is only two and twenty years old. She has golden hair. That is all I know.”  
  
“Ooh, a golden-haired wife! Lucky you! Do you think she is willing to be shared?”  
  
“Don’t," Oberyn said angrily, and Ellaria was serious again.  
  
“When will the wedding be?”  
  
“A few months, perhaps? It should take time for them to arrive, and then likely a fortnight after that.”  
  
“So soon,” Ellaria murmured, leaning against him, and he wrapped his arm tightly around her.  
  
“Any time would be too soon.”


	3. The Journey

The journey to Sunspear managed to be mostly enjoyable. They’d gone by horseback, Jeya, Lord Tywin, and the small company of Lannister lords, ladies, and guards he had brought. None of them would be staying with her after the wedding, even Brynn would go back with the company, but Tywin Lannister certainly wouldn't have gone to Dorne without bringing a few impressive lords with him.

For the first part of the journey, before they reached Dorne, she had been lucky enough to be ignored most of the time and spent her days riding in comfortable silence at the middle of the company. On better days Brynn would travel beside her, and sometimes they were even able to chatter and laugh about whatever they wanted. 

When they reached the Dornish borders and met the company Prince Doran had sent to receive them and escort them to Sunspear Tywin decided to ignore her less. It was clear the Dornish had little respect for him, and he seemed to feel that if he couldn’t command their respect as easily as he wished, at least he could bully her to be sure someone was beneath him. 

Unfortunately for him, the Dornish company treated her very well. Ser Myles Gargalen always had a kind word for her and Ser Arron Qorgyle was always answering questions she didn’t even know she had about life at Sunspear, and about those who lived there. 

Of course, Jeya was almost as intimidated by their Dornish companions as by their Lannister ones, feeling she had little idea what they expected her, the intended bride of a Prince of Dorne, to be like. All the same she began riding beside them whenever she could, trying to pick up whatever there was to learn about Dorne. 

On some days Lady Allyrion or Lady Wells would ride beside her, a bit apart from the rest of their company, patiently willing to talk for hours about Dornish history and culture, and neither were ever unkind when Jeya failed to know something that would likely be well known to any child in Dorne. 

It was Jayne Ladybright, near her own age, she liked riding near best though, because Jayne had grown up at Sunspear. She's knew the Martells as well anyone else in their company and could tell Jeya all about them, and the others at court.

It was clear their companions and everyone they spoke to along their way revered and loved the Red Viper, and Jeya could never decide whether their reverence made her more or less afraid of him.

It was also clear that the Dornish were a fiercely proud people, and she only became more and more amused at their hosts' subtle insults to the Lannisters, and the way Tywin and his men became more and more angered by it as the days went by.

The sun also seemed to grow only angrier as the days went on, and it wasn’t long before they had to shed their typical Westerosi fashion in favor of lighter materials and silk veils to avoid heat exhaustion and burns from the sun. 

One day, trying to be kind, Brynn told her she was beginning to look truly Dornish, and Jeya couldn’t decide whether that relieved, excited, or frightened her more. 

Finally their journey was drawing to a close, and though she was loving seeing the strongholds and cities they travelled through, each new and exciting, Jeys’s nerves felt more like fear the farther south they went and the closer they drew to Sunspear, her betrothed, and all else that she was to find there.


	4. Arriving at Sunspear

 “Oberyn,” Ellaria said as he sat down beside her in a sunroom in the Tower of the Sun, as she read. “Not that I wouldn’t rather you be here, but don’t you have places to be?”

“I don’t know how many days I have left with just you,” he answered. “I refuse to waste that time.”

“Tywin’s party arrived yesterday. They are at Sunspear today, and when Doran refuses to see him I imagine they will want to speak to you eventually.” Ellaria had told him off already when Oberyn had refused to greet the company upon their arrival yesterday, but even despite her insistence, Oberyn was still refusing to play nice where Tywin was involved.

“Eventually will come soon enough,” he growled.

He was leaning to kiss her when the door opened and Ellaria jumped.

Oberyn kissed her anyway, ignoring Tywin Lannister, but he stopped immediately when he saw the girl behind Tywin enter the room.

He could only assume this was Jeya, and the first thing he noticed about her was that she looked frightened and miserable. She was beyond pretty, certainly. She had pale skin and very long deep golden hair that shone, even in the small amounts of late morning sunlight in the room. Her face was fair and her eyes bright, and she wore a pale silvery purple gown that looked as delicate as she did. She was slim, not just physically, but in the way she held herself- trying to take up as little space as possible, as if she could disappear. Her eyes flitted around the room, hardly daring to settle on anyone for long, and she looked like she would rather be anywhere in the world than here.

“Prince Oberyn.” Tywin spoke with that condescending voice that faked courtesy without leaving any doubt that he intended intimidation and insult more than anything else.

“Lord Tywin.” Oberyn stood, as did Ellaria behind him. “Not that I am not glad to meet my betrothed, but in Dorne, it is generally nice to give one warning before barging into a room.”

“I apologize.” Tywin spoke again in a voice that made it very clear there was no apology intended. “I rather hoped to speak to your brother, but I am told he does not take visitors.”

Oberyn watched out of the corner of his eye as Jeya inched back farther away from Tywin, and was met with one of the Lannister guards shoving her forward with the handle of a sword and a silent laugh. She glared at him defiantly, but lowered her eyes again when the other guard joined in his laugh. Oberyn’s hand twitched towards his sword at his hip, but he steadied it for now.  
  
“No, Doran only personally sees his most important visitors these days. Jeya may qualify, but I am afraid it seems you did not today, Lord Tywin.” Oberyn said evenly.

Jeya gave a tiny smile and the smallest bubble of a laugh, hiding her smile with her hand.

“What did you say?” Tywin turned on her angrily when he heard her laugh, and her eyes widened, though she didn’t answer.

“There are many things I could tell him about you, perhaps that would change your Prince’s mind about that.” Tywin snarled, and Jeya shrank away. “Like your attempted runaway,“ –she blushed- “or where you worked during it, it was a brothel, you know,” he said nastily to Oberyn.

“No-“ Jeya started to protest and add the truth, blushing scarlet at what Oberyn would think of the news. Oberyn had glanced at her curiously, but she didn’t deserve that either…

She wondered why Tywin would be telling Oberyn this, why he wouldn’t try to make her sound the perfect match, but she guessed Tywin was saving those speeches for Prince Doran. Now, he was just trying to hurt her.  
  
“We should go.” Tywin grabbed her wrist harshly, painfully, when she tried to speak, preventing her from turning away from him.  
  
“Let go…” Her voice was hardly above a whimper when she tried to pull away.

Before she even had time to draw another breath, Oberyn had drawn his sword and pressed it to Tywin’s throat.

“Let go of her,” he commanded. His voice was steady, but dripping with a threat Jeya didn’t think was idle. Behind them Tywin’s pair of guards unsheathed their swords, but Jeya wasn’t sure what they thought they could do with them in time.

Up close, it was obvious why the Red Viper was so feared and revered throughout Dorne and beyond. His features, dark hair in a dramatic widow’s peak, his dark skin, his pointed nose, and nearly black eyes that sparked with anger all formed an expression full of fury that was terrifying to behold, and he looked as dangerous and unpredictable as men said he was. Though he was defending her, in that moment, Jeya didn’t know whether she should fear Tywin Lannister or Oberyn Martell more.

“I know you better than that, Oberyn Martell,” Tywin said, twisting her wrist harder, making her bite her lip against a gasp. “You won’t slit my throat right here.”

“Is that really something you are willing to risk?” Oberyn stepped closer and Jeya was close enough to see the sword press deep enough into Tywin’s throat to draw a thin line of blood. “I said: Let. Her. Go.”

Tywin glared at The Red Viper for a moment longer, finally deciding what was best and releasing Jeya.

“If that blade was poisoned…” He touched a hand to the line of red on his skin.

“Would that it were,” Oberyn glared back coldly.

“Come, Jeya, we’re leaving,” Tywin commanded, and his guards sheathed their swords to follow him.  
  
Jeya glared at him, then threw Oberyn a glance she hoped conveyed apologeticness.

Tywin hadn’t even actually discussed anything with either Prince, had his only intention in talking to the Martells today been to make them angry? He hadn’t treated their other hosts quite this badly.

“Jeya can stay,” Oberyn said, sheathing his own sword after wiping it on a cloth, and turning to her. “If you would like,” he added softly. “We’ll have your things brought here, and you can stay in the guest chambers here in the Tower of the Sun.”

“Thank you, I would like that very much,” Jeya told him quickly, not daring to glance at Tywin. Anywhere she could stay had to be better than Sunspear’s guest wing where the rest of Tywin’s company was staying, and where Tywin had nothing to do all day but leer at her and drag her around.

“Nom” Tywin said firmly. “She comes with me.”

“You should remember that you are in Dorne now.” Oberyn turned slowly to Tywin. “We may have approved this alliance, but you would do well not to anger us while you are here. She stays.”

 _Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,_ Jeya thought.

Tywin shrugged and turned to leave, his guards after him.

“Just remember, she isn’t yours yet,” he said unpleasantly, glancing between them before he reached the door.

Oberyn took a knife off the table nearby and threw it at the wall over Tywin’s shoulder, and if Jeya hadn’t been so mortified by the events of the past few minutes, she might have laughed. But Tywin looked strangely triumphant when he left the room, and Jeya could only fear the reasons why.

“Did he hurt you?” Oberyn asked, turning to Jeya when Tywin was gone, and she realized she was still holding her wrist. He had spoken softly, and he looked much kinder when his dark eyes met hers than she’d expected him to, especially after the last few moments. She also truly noticed now how handsome Oberyn was, especially now that he wasn't so angry.

“N-no, I am fine.” She let go and dropped her sleeve to cover her wrist, but not before Oberyn caught a glimpse of the marks already visible on her pale skin that would turn to bruises.

“I am so sorry about that-” she started, but Oberyn shook his head to cut her off.

“No one is responsible for apologizing for the actions of Tywin Lannister except Tywin Lannister himself. And as he never will, it seems I will have to settle for hoping to someday watch him take his last breath.”

Ellaria made a disapproving noise, but Jeya smiled.

“That is something I wouldn’t mind watching as well,” she told him, then blushed and turned her gaze back to the floor, missing him grin at her.

“Why don’t we start over?” Oberyn suggested. “Lady Jeya of House Tallerly, Prince Oberyn of Dorne. I am honored to meet you.”

“It is an honor, Prince Oberyn.” Jeya forced a polite smile and inclined her head, curtseying, then standing up straight again when she realized she was shaking with nerves.

“And this is Ellaria Sand.”

“I know who you are.” Jeya smiled and curtseyed to her as well, hoping to show she truly meant to be kind. “Tales and rumors of your beauty, great as they are, certainly fall short of the truth.”

“Why thank you,” Ellaria looked mildly surprised, and Oberyn watched them curiously.

“And what of rumors of you?” he asked her.

“What do the rumors say of me?”

“That you are beautiful- that we can see is true, that you are sweet, innocent…” he shrugged.

“Thank you. And yes, kind but perhaps not sweet, innocent but not naive.”

Oberyn only watched her for a moment. Jeya wanted to ask of the rumors about him, but then, she was afraid she didn’t want to know which ones were true.

“About what Tywin said before…”

“I never believe a word that comes out of a Lannister’s mouth,” Oberyn told her, gesturing for her to sit on the couch he and Ellaria had been seated on before they came in, and Jeya sat.

“It is partially true,” she told them softly.

“Sounds exciting,” He sat back, facing her.

“Not really,” Jeya shook her head. “I found work for a time-”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” he told her, but she went on anyway.

“-and I figured no one would look for me there, so I worked in a brothel. But I wasn’t exactly a… main attraction. I did cooking and cleaning.”

Oberyn and Ellaria both laughed.

“That sounds like something Tywin would twist to be much different than it was,” Oberyn nodded.

“That doesn’t sound like work for a lady,” Ellaria noted, perching on a chair across from them.

“No, well, no one knew who I was.” That had been the nice thing, everyone had secrets there, and no one asked you to tell them. But she wasn’t sure how much of her time on the run from the Lannisters she wanted to share right away, and she glanced down at her lap.

“You probably want to rest, I know you have had a long journey,” Oberyn said.  
  
Jeya knew he was probably just trying to be kind, but she couldn’t help fearing that Oberyn just wanted to get away from her.  
  
“I would, thank you.”  
  
“We will have your belongings brought here by the afternoon, Ser Daemon Sand can show you to chambers.” Oberyn motioned to a knight who had entered the room moments ago.  
  
_Daemon._ Jeya glanced at him quickly, she0 remembered reading that he was rumored to be one of Oberyn’s many lovers. She wondered if it was true. He was certainly attractive, all sandy brown hair and dark shining eyes, and he looked about her age or younger, closer than Oberyn’s, so they would be well over a decade apart, like she and Oberyn were.

  
She smiled a polite farewell to Oberyn and Ellaria, and Daemon led her through a maze of the halls and stairs of Sunspear to a hall up high, with balconies on one side looking out over the sea and the other side overlooking the Shadow City.  
  
“Prince Oberyn’s own daughters have chambers just above, and these are some of the nicer guest chambers,” Daemon informed her, showing her to her own and kindly asking her if there was anything she needed before he left.  
  
They were much more comfortable than where she had lived at Casterly Rock, where her chambers had been forever cold with the hard stone walls they were built of, and there had only been the one tiny window, far up in a corner. It had felt more like a cell than anything, and she had never had it decorated beyond the solitary Tallerly banner she’d had hung. These chambers had Martell red and gold colored drapes, carpets, and sheets, and rich views below. But Jeya didn’t think they felt any more homely than the Rock had. The Rock might have been horrible, but so far, Dorne was just strange.

 


	5. Chapter 5

She had nothing to do but pace her new chambers, too anxious to actually rest, until her things were brought up. She didn’t have too many possessions, aside from clothes and such, so it didn’t take long before everything was arranged, and Brynn came to visit her.

They didn’t go far, neither of them really knowing their way around the Palace, but Brynn convinced her to explore some of it and they spent some time walking around the floor her new chambers were on, trying to see everything that could be seen from the high windows or balconies.

The whole side of the palace they were in overlooked the sea, and the numerous ports and boats in the distance below. Jeya leaned over the rail to get as good a look as she could at them. Perhaps they were bigger up close, but she suddenly found herself very grateful they hadn't traveled to Dorne by sea- being trapped on a tiny boat with Lord Tywin for company sounded worse than anything she could imagine.

"Do you wonder where all those boats are going?" Brynn was asking.

"All over, I imagine." She laughed a little. "I suppose that's vague, but I don't know the area well enough to guess. Yet." 

"I guess it doesn't matter. I'd love to go anywhere. I'm not looking forward to the journey back without you." 

Jeya was silent. 

"I'm sorry," Brynn said. "I shouldn't complain to you, you have to stay in a strange place and all..." 

"No, don't apologize. I'll miss you too, though, I wish you could stay here." 

"I suppose we still could ask around, see if Sunspear needs another maid."

"It seems big enough I'm almost sure they always need one, unless Tywin interferes with them taking you on." Jeya answered. "But would you want to stay here?"

They'd talked about it before; Brynn's family had worked for the Lannisters for years, but since her mother died Brynn didn't have much reason to stay at Casterly Rock anymore. All her family left was in King's Landing, but she had no way to get to them or guarantee of work there. She had a few friends at the Rock, she never hated it in the same way Jeya had, but she didn't want to stay there forever either. Since they'd become friends Brynn had idly said it would be nice to stay wherever she ended up, but that was before Tywin had decided she'd end up quite so far away. 

"For you I would stay." 

"You're sweet." Jeya smiled. "But I know you'd rather be in King's Landing." 

"I won't lie, I would. Would you judge me if I told you I want to stow away on one of those ships, if that's where it's headed?" 

"No, I wouldn't judge you. But please don't stow away, that sounds like a poor idea." 

"Says the girl who ran away to..."

"Shut up!" Jeya interrupted her and they both laughed.

"You know, I bet at least one ship while you're here will leave for King's Landing though, it's a big place and lots of people have to be going there. I think."

"Yes, but if I'm not really going to stow away, I could never afford passage," Brynn sighed. 

"Remember those horrible and red jewels Tywin gave me for my nameday this year, because he wanted me to wear them to the wedding? But I don't want to wear them?" 

"They're not horrible, you just hate them because Tywin gave them to you." 

"Either way." 

"I remember. What about them?" 

"Well, I've been thinking, if they disappeared he couldn't make me wear them." 

"You'll get someone blamed for losing them on the journey if they 'disappear.'" 

"But what can he do if the someone I give them to sells them to afford passage on a ship and sails to King's Landing before he realizes they're gone, which he won't for at least a fortnight, until the wedding, if I'm lucky?" 

"Gods, I couldn't. Even if he didn't blame me, I couldn't possibly take them!" 

"Even if you'd be doing me a favor?" 

"Jeya!"

"I'm serious! I know travelling on your own is dangerous, but it's the best way to get you to King's Landing, or wherever, and there are ships. I don't have money. Or, I do, but I don't have access to do what I like with it, but I have jewels I hate. Everyone wins."

"Somehow I feel like you don't. Plus Tywin will find out eventually, and then what'll he do?"

“Because Tywin Lannister has never been angry with me before.” She said wryly.

“I’d feel terrible, I can’t… they’re far too valuable.”

“Yes, and Tywin gave them to me, so they’re one of the few valuable things I own that I care nothing for. Take them. I’d rather know you’re free. I can deal with Tywin.” 

They weren’t truly all that valuable, Jeya doubted. But it should be enough to buy Brynn passage on a ship, and enough food until she could find good work and her cousins. Besides, all her other good jewelry, while much of it wasn’t of much value either, had belonged to her or her mother, and those she did care for. She would rather wear one of them to the wedding.

“I can’t ever repay you for them… I’ll always owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything, you were my only friend at Casterly Rock."

"Still." 

"Well," Jeya shrugged. "I'm not sure who to ask about ships anyway. But if one of us hears something, and you want to go, the offer stands."


	6. Dinner

Someone came to tell her later that she was to dine with Prince Doran, Princess Arianne, and Prince Oberyn tonight. That was a slight relief, that she didn’t have to meet the other important nobles of Sunspear yet, or Oberyn’s daughters, but Prince Doran and Princess Arianne were enough to worry about.

Brynn helped her change into a more formal dress, and Jeya was quiet, worrying about how she should act or what she'd be expected to talk about at dinner. With their previous hosts on the journey here, she'd mostly let others talk, often at Tywin. His presence tended to make her miserable, but at least formal conversations had been easier. She wasn't nearly as well versed on current events as he was, or likely as the wife of a Prince of Dorne should be. 

At least Brynn had done a good job with her hair and she thought the blue dress she wore made her skin look nice. That was something.

To her surprise, Princess Arianne was waiting outside her room for her. Jeya curtseyed, but, again to her surprise, Arianne just smiled, told her there was no need to be so formal, and led the way to dinner, asking her how she was liking Sunspear so far.

“Really? You’ve never had Dornish wine before your journey here?” she was saying when they reached the table. It was small and near Doran’s chambers, just big enough for the four of them, and among what were apparently some of Sunspear’s gardens. There was much less green than Jeya was used to, but also more than she would have expected.

“No. Well, I’d had wine that called itself Dornish, but it wasn’t from Dorne, just spiced similarly. It was made from different grapes, though.”

“Definitely not Dornish wine, then.” Arianne laughed. “I don’t know how the rest of you drink that stuff you do.”

Jeya shrugged, her answer falling silent when they reached the table, where Doran already sat in his wheelchair. She had heard that he spent much of his time confined to it these days.   
  
When they arrived at the table, Arianne introduced her to her father. The Prince was almost fifty, but the gout made him look older, frailer, and more grey than one would expect. Despite being dressed richly in bright yellows, he somehow looked almost dull. He had the appearance, though, of a man who had once been as handsome as one could wish for a Prince to be, and he held himself in a manner that Jeya guessed would allow few to forget who he was.

Jeya curtseyed again, bowing her head low and respectfully, and he nodded kindly to her.

“Lady Jeya. It is good to finally meet you, we have heard much about you.”

Fear bubbled in her stomach, wondering what Tywin had had to say about her, but Doran seemed to notice the shadow flash across her face.

“From sources more reliable than a Lannister, I might add.”

“Good,” she said, relieved, then blushed. “I mean…” She couldn’t think she was safe to say whatever she liked about the Lannisters here, certainly not in front of the Prince of Dorne, even if it was no secret the Dornish despised the Lannisters, and the Martells most of all.

She was slightly relieved when Doran only chuckled, and she was saved from answering when Oberyn arrived, taking his seat with barely a nod to the rest of them.

Small talk was easier than she might have expected, and Arianne was surprisingly kind. She kept up talk about Dornish spices and wines, which Jeya did her best to try all of what was offered. They were all delicious, though some of the spiced meats still seemed a bit much after the bland food she had been used to at Casterly Rock. The rest of their company had complained about them the whole way to Sunspear, but Jeya was starting to get used to Dornish food.  
  
Doran asked her about her childhood at Woodhall, and she spoke of the trees and streams she’d grown up with, how she missed them, but that she had always hated the cold and was sure she would love the Dornish sun and sea. Oberyn said very little to anyone, keeping his eyes on his plate instead of the rest of them.

“What was life at the Rock like?” Arianne asked Jeya, and her eyes widened. That was a big question, if she were to try to answer anything close to seriously.

“It was…” She searched her mind for anything vague enough to work. It was terrible, boring, frightful, cold, lonely…

“You really do not have to worry about insulting Lannisters in front of us.” Arianne grinned mischievously, and Jeya could only stare at her uncertainly. In the world she had lived in, one didn’t tell their honest opinions to anyone they had just met that day, if ever.

Doran made a noise to quiet Arianne, but she ignored her father. “We aren’t lion supporters, as a general rule."

“Then you can imagine well enough what life at Casterly Rock was.” Jeya smiled wryly. “The food was bland, the weather was awful, the company was… best when it wasn’t there. But the library was nice.”

Everyone laughed, and she blushed, hoping she hadn’t said too much. Maybe it had been the Dornish wine. It didn’t taste especially strong, but it must be.

“I went there once. I hated everything about it,” Oberyn told her. “I can understand why you tried to escape it.” He took another bite of salad.

Jeya glanced worriedly at Doran and Arianne, not sure what of her story they knew. Doran looked unsurprised and was watching Oberyn disapprovingly, but Arianne looked suddenly intrigued.

“You tried to escape?” She asked.

“I… ran away for a little over a year after my parents’ deaths.” She wasn’t sure what else to say. 

  
“Where did you go?” Arianne sounded fascinated, completely ignoring Doran’s increasingly less subtle attempts to quiet her.  
  
“I went to Fairmarket, a ways North of the Rock,” she answered, hoping Arianne didn’t ask too much, because she didn’t want to explain the situation in front of Doran.   
  
“I have heard it is beautiful there.” Arianne commented. “The woods, river, and sea not too far away?”   
  
“It is. The winter over the water is cold, but it is beautiful to look at.”   
  
“Why there?”  
  
“It… seemed convenient when I stopped, and I ended up never leaving.” Jeya still considered that her greatest mistake. Just a bit farther and she could have gotten to Ironman’s Bay, maybe gone to the Iron Islands or beyond. She may have hated it there, but anywhere the Lannisters wouldn’t have found her would be better, even if she had had to go North over the Wall for that. Or she could have gone south and even ended up in Dorne, but almost certainly without any of the pressures of being betrothed to the Red Viper.  
  
Doran saved her from answering any more questions by changing the subject and asking Arianne about her own doings, and Jeya ate the rest of the food on her plate in silence.

When they had all finished, Doran excused himself, kindly telling Jeya to let them know if there was anything she needed, and Oberyn bid her good-night, shortly, walking off briskly.   
  
“Do you know how to get back to your chambers?” Arianne asked.   
  
“I believe I remember the way.” With all the reading she had done before coming to Sunspear, she should have thought to study a map of the Palace.   
  
“Good.” Arianne took her arm and squeezed her hand gently. “I will see you soon, I am sure. I do hope we can be friends.”   
  
“I hope so too,” Jeya watched Arianne hurry to catch up to Oberyn and wondered whether Martells meant things like that any more than Lannisters, because neither seemed likely to give their friendship easily.


	7. Overhearing

The next day Jeya stayed in her room and read, mostly, having her meals brought to her chambers, and she was not invited to dine with anyone important that day.

Her third morning in Dorne she ventured out to explore and she was heading down the corridor when she saw Oberyn and Ellaria ahead, and started to catch up. But then she got close enough to hear what they were saying.

“It’s not that I don’t like her, she’s nice. I just don’t see how I can ever get along well with someone so… fragile.”

“True, you don’t seem to have much in common.” Ellaria answered.

“Not like us.” Oberyn sighed.

“You don’t know her yet.” Ellaria offered.

“True. Though I suppose I’ll have to.”

“You make it sound like a chore.”

“Well it isn’t as though I wanted to be married. Doran has two sons, he could have matched her to one of them if he was so desperate to make this alliance.”

“I think he has more ambitious matches in mind for them, and you’ve already got eight bastard daughters and a long time paramour.” Ellaria reminded him.

“We don’t even know how she’ll feel about you.” He sighed. ”I’ve been afraid to ask.”

That was when Ellaria happened to glance behind them.

“Oh no.” She started, her face twisting to pity. “Jeya…”

“Jeya?” Oberyn turned quickly. “Oh…”

She was already standing frozen, so when they saw her it took a moment before she turned and ran, desperate to not hear anything else they had to say after her, desperate to not have them look at her so shocked and piteously.

Jeya finally stopped at a room at the end of the hall and shut the door behind her, trying not to shake, trying not to let her tears fall, and standing at the balcony overlooking the shadow city.

A few minutes later the door opened and Oberyn slowly came to stand beside her.

“Jeya, I am sorry you heard that-” He started, reaching to put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrank away harshly and he let it fall to the rail of the balcony. “I shouldn’t have said any of it.”

She was silent. If she spoke, she knew she would cry, and he had already called her too, what was it, fragile?

“The view is beautiful.” He said eventually, and Jeya couldn’t help glancing at him sharply. What, did Oberyn think changing the subject would make everything she had overheard not matter?

“Everything here is so different from home.” She answered softly. He didn’t ask her whether that was a good thing or a not, nor did he ask her where home was. Which she was glad of, because she didn’t know the answer to either.

“I have to go meet with Doran, but I would like to spend time with you later.” Oberyn said after a while longer. “If you would like.”

“I would like that.” Jeya answered, but stiffly.

“Good.” He brushed her arm with his fingers, and this time she didn’t flinch away. “I’ll come find you, early this afternoon?”

She nodded, and he turned to leave.

“Oberyn?” Jeya started, when he had his hand on the doorknob, and he stopped and turned back. “I don’t mind, by the way. About you and Ellaria. I don’t want to get between what you two have.”   
  
It was true. She could see how close the two of them were. She admired it. She envied it.

“You mean that.” Oberyn said, looking surprised. “I am glad you’re here.” He offered.

“You shouldn’t say things you don’t mean.” Jeya said, turning back away from him before he could answer.

She waited until she heard his footsteps fade down the hall before she let herself sink into a ball and cry for home, wherever that was.

 

When she stopped crying and hoped her face showed no signs of it, she left whatever room she was in and tried to get back to her chambers as quickly as possible without attracting the attention of anyone else on her way. She jumped nearly a foot in the air when she heard her name.   
  
"Jeya!"   
  
It was just Brynn, waiting for her in the hall outside her chambers, looking nervous.   
  
"Is everything all right?" Jeya asked. 

 "Yes. I mean, no. I mean, yes. I... remember when we were talking about ships and Kings Landing?"

"Of course."  
  
"Well I just found out, there's a ship leaving today, actually. Prince Oberyn's squire, Daemon Sand? He was talking about it, someone he knows is going there and I asked if there was room and, well, he said there is."   
  
"Oh." Jeya knew she should be more excited for Brynn, but she'd really been hoping to talk to Brynn about what she'd overheard.

It wasn't fair to make Brynn's plans suffer for her own emotions about Oberyn, so she made herself smile. "That's incredible! Today is so quick though, can you sell the jewels in time?" 

"I think so," Brynn nodded. "It's just, well, it's Daemon's friend, and Daemon's close to Prince Oberyn and if they know... well they might ask where I got them, and I don't want to risk getting you in trouble, if they know where I got the money."   
  
"I can tell them I gave you what you needed. I don't care if they find it strange, what should anyone, save Tywin, care if I give away my own jewels?"  
  
"If you're sure," Brynn said, though she looked relieved. "I didn't want to leave you this soon, I really wanted to be here for the wedding. Daemon's friend said there might be another ship leaving before I leave Sunspear with Tywin, but I know this one is, and it seems safe..."

“You should go. Jeya said softly. “You might not get a better offer.”

"Only if you're sure. And I still want to find a way to repay you for helping me..."   
  
"Don't you dare!" Jeya darted into her room before Brynn could find another reason not to go and quickly found the jewels in one of her trunks. She wrapped them in a cloth and swallowed hard, forcing a smile again as she went back outside where Brynn was waiting. "Just promise you will write once you can, I don't know when or if any of my other old friends will anyway, and I'll be devastated if I don't hear you arrived safely."   
  
"Thank you! I promise, you know I will." Brynn took the cloth from her. "I'll even write from the ship, if I can."  
  
"Thank you," Jeya said, and then she couldn't hold her tears back anymore. "I'll miss you."

"You, too," Brynn said hesitantly, then hugged her tightly. 

Jeya drew a deep breath, trying to hide her emotion, and trying not to wish so hard she could talk to Brynn about earlier. She couldn't risk Brynn missing her chance to leave, but did she ship have to leave _today?_

Finally, she made herself let go and smiled at Brynn. 

“Thank you,” Brynn said, again. “I’ll write as soon as I can! I’m sorry I can’t be here for longer… but I am sure everything will work out for you here, Dorne will work out for you, I feel it,” she said encouragingly.

“I’m sure,” Jeya said as convincingly as possible. It was hardly convincing, but luckily Brynn seemed distracted enough with their good-byes and with her own nerves or excitement. “Don’t worry about me. Go!”

She made herself laugh, giving Brynn a push.

Brynn turned to leave, backing away slowly. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you more than you can imagine.”

Jeya watched her go, trying as hard as she could not to let Brynn see her tears. She saved that until Brynn had turned the corner, and she went back inside her chambers and shut her door, trying not to think that she had just lost her only friend left in this world just when she needed one most.


	8. Chapter 8

True to his word, Oberyn arrived at her chambers around midday, and offered to show her around the palace, which Jeya, of course, accepted. If he noticed her red tinged and puffy eyes, he said nothing of it.  
  
He made small talk about the history of Sunspear, much of which she knew from books, but she nodded along and answered him when she could.

When they reached the gardens he sat on a bench and changed the subject. “About what I said earlier…”

Jeya sat too, but looked away. He could go on, but she didn’t want to act like hearing him say aloud that he didn't even have interest in getting to know her hadn't upset her, because it had.

“I am sorry,” he started. “I truly don’t want you to be unhappy here, and I just fear I am not… what you want. And I can’t be.”

“How would you even know what I want? You don’t know me at all. You only know what of me you’ve heard from others," she burst out.

“You are right, I don’t know you. But I don’t think Tywin gave you any choice in coming here, did he, and if he had you likely would not be here?”   
  
She shook her head, and wished he didn’t look so sorry for her.

“And you think I will never be happy being wed to a man with a paramour and eight daughters.”

“Well… yes.”  
  
And he was the Red Viper of Dorne, known for bedding half the kingdom and poisoning a significant portion of the rest.  
  
“But you’ve heard enough of what my life has been of late. I lost my parents. I spent a little over a year in hiding. I spent a year at Casterly Rock where Tywin would decide my future, I gave up hope of a perfect life long ago.”

“But you hoped for more than me, didn’t you.” Oberyn asked. “You hoped for someone who could at least be...yours.”   
  
“Yes.” Jeya admitted. Even in the clutches of Tywin’s control on her fate she had hoped he might pick someone she could learn to love. Someone kind and, like Oberyn had said, someone hers. Of course she had. “But I don’t mind that you and Ellaria have what you have. And I know we probably will never have that, but I hope we can at least have… something. I don’t want us to be strangers forever.”   
  
“I don’t want that either.” Oberyn told her, but she wasn’t sure she believed him. “I truly am sorry that I judged you so harshly right away; I hope you can believe me. I was afraid. I am afraid. And I’m sorry for what you overheard me say to Ellaria.”   
  
“You keep saying that," she mumbled.   
  
“I know. I suppose neither of us wanted this. But I promise you will be safe here," Oberyn told her. “We are not like the Lannisters.”

“No, you are not,” Jeya answered, though she certainly didn’t know what they were like.  
  
“Ellaria told me two things after earlier. First, she reminded me that you have no one else here, and that I need to get to know you, for both our sakes, and do that before I make any judgements. I am sorry I was too afraid to do that, but I will.”   
  
Jeya cast her eyes down and gave no answer. Was reminding her that she was alone in the world, with no parents, no family, and no friends left supposed to be comforting in some way?   
  
“Second, she reminded me that you are kind, and that I am lucky to be betrothed to a kind and beautiful lady.”   
  
Jeya smiled in spite of herself. “Tell Ellaria I said to thank her.”   
  
“I will. Or you can tell her, if you like. And another thing I should tell you. Our wedding night is coming up and, I want you to know, if you do not want me to touch you, I won’t,” Oberyn told her quietly, his dark eyes searching hers. “I wouldn’t do that.”   
  
Jeya looked at him curiously, surprised. That lent support to the rumors that he was as caring a lover as he was a frequent one.   
  
“You don’t have to feel obligated.” Oberyn told her.   
  
“I don’t.” Jeya paused awkwardly. “Thank you.”   
  
“I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I just wanted you to know.” Oberyn turned to face ahead of them. “So tell me about yourself, what do you like to do?”   
  
“Read, mostly. And horses, I’ve always loved riding.”   
  
“Did you do much riding at Casterly Rock?”   
  
“No.” She nearly laughed. It had seemed Tywin had feared letting her on a horse. There was always the chance she would escape on one. “I spent most of my days there inside. Like I said, it is a good thing the library there was a good one.”   
  
“Have you seen ours?”   
  
“Not yet.”   
  
“I could show you.” Oberyn offered, standing and offering her his arm. She hesitated half a second before taking it, and was sure he had noticed, but not sure if she cared.   
  
“What do you like to read?” He asked as they began to walk.   
  
“Everything?” Jeya smiled. “History, reference books, books about studies… fiction and tales, too.”

"Do you like poetry?"

"I do. I haven't read as much poetry as other things, though, I mostly read history or fantasy."

“The two, poetry and fantasy, intersect at times, do they not? Ellaria and I share a love of poetry."

"I would love to read anything you would recommend, then," she told him honestly.  
  
"We have many Dornish books you likely haven’t read before, too.”   
  
“I did read just about everything Tywin’s library had on Dorne before coming here,” she told him.

“Were they accurate?”   
  
“How should I know? I doubt it. Most of it was history or court gossip, and not written by anyone Dornish.”   
  
“Anything interesting about me?” Oberyn arched an eyebrow, and Jeya blushed fiercely, searching her mind for something to tell him other than the gossip of his lovers and the judgement of Oberyn’s even darker pursuits; poisons, magics…   
  
“You don’t have to say.” Oberyn chuckled. “It is only fair if you read about me. We had Ser Deziel Dalt meet you, you didn’t have the advantage of a spy. Tywin doesn’t count.”   
  
“No,” she agreed simply, trying to keep note of where they were walking so she could remember how not to get lost later.   
  
“What were the libraries like where you grew up, at Woodhall?” Oberyn seemed to have a habit of changing subjects quickly, either when he got bored with one or had said all he had to say on a matter.   
  
“They were wonderful!” Jeya had spend much of her childhood and adolescence between the four walls of their library. “We had great collections, and it was such a lovely place to read, with windows overlooking the yards and the wood and orchards behind. If I wasn’t in the stables and no one was fighting me to be elsewhere, I was nearly always in the library. Or off in the woods with a horse and a book.”   
  
Oberyn smiled, and Jeya noticed how much kinder it made him look.     
  
“You are a bird, aren’t you? Always flying off.”   
  
It was true.   
  
“And I am a viper. Or so they say. Are there any stories about birds and snakes? Lions and mice, crows and ravens…”   
  
“None that I know of.” Jeya shrugged, trying not to remember her earlier thoughts about snakes swallowing birds whole.  
  
Oberyn left her after showing her around the library which, true to his word, was magnificent. If Jeya hadn’t had such loyalty to her childhood hours spent in Woodhall’s library, she might have said it was the greatest library she had ever seen. After a few hours spent there, she returned to her chambers for the night, arms full of books she had never heard of before. Some Oberyn had recommended, and she was excited to read them. And to have found one at least one thing so far in Dorne that she didn’t feel she should fear. 


	9. Chapter 9

Breakfast the next morning was a bowl full of fruit and bread with Dornish-spiced goat cheese. Again, just before midday, Oberyn arrived at her chambers and offered to show her more of the gardens. Jeya wondered whether he had again only come on Ellaria’s suggestion.

“You have told me much about yourself, but I realize I have not done the same.” He told her as they walked.

“To be fair, I already knew more than a few rumors about you before I came.” Jeya hoped that wasn’t the wrong thing to say.

Oberyn laughed. “I do not know what you read, but I am afraid there is likely some truth in all of them.”

“You have led a very exciting life, then.” Jeya decided that was the nice way to suggest things like poisoning powerful Dornish lords, bedding as much as he could, studying poisons and dark arts, being exiled, and being revered and greatly feared as a fighter.

Oberyn simply shrugged, but gave no answer.

“We could start with more simple things,” Jeya suggested. “What is your favorite color?”

“Red.” Oberyn answered.

“Of course. The Red Viper.”

He laughed. “I am not sure they chose red for that title because it is my favorite, but yes. What is yours?”

“Purple.”

“Like the sky?”

“Like… I am not sure I have ever seen a purple sky?” She tried to imagine it. “There is a wildflower we have around the woods I grew up in, it’s a deep purple; like that purple.”

“We get purple sunsets in the desert sometimes,” he told her. “I’ll show you, next time there is one.”

“I’d like that.” She smiled, but her smile faded quickly when his words to Ellaria the other day echoed back to her. He was making an effort now, but she felt it was only out of a sense of duty. Or maybe sympathy. Oberyn still didn’t actually want her here.

“We have one purple flower here.” He told her, remembering. Oberyn pointed down a path that branched off the one they were walking on and led her to a smaller garden behind a gate.

“This is where I grow the poisonous plants we have in Sunspear’s gardens.” He told her, not noticing her surprised eyebrow raise. He gestured to a delicately pale purple plant in the corner.

“It looks so pretty to be deadly,” she said curiously.

“Don’t let it fool you.” Oberyn smiled, and the excitement in his eyes when he started reeling off the properties of various poisons that could be extracted from plants in his garden was in part amusing and in part terrifying.

He stopped after awhile; though she had been hanging to his every word, she hadn’t been saying much.

“Sorry, I do not mean to bore you,” he said apologetically.

“No, it’s very interesting.” Jeya assured him.

“Overwhelming?”

“No. But you are a frightening man, Oberyn Martell.” Jeya told him with a slight smile.

“Do I frighten you?”

“A few days ago, very much.” she answered softly. “Now, not so much.”

“Good,” Oberyn smiled. “I do not wish to.”

His dark eyes remained on hers for a moment, but then he turned back to the plants.

“Do you know of any poisons that can make it look as if someone were sick?” Jeya asked quietly.

“What do you mean?” Oberyn’s brow creased. “Your parents?”

“I mean… when my parents died, it was so sudden.” She paused. “The maester said it must have been a bad strain, but it seemed unnatural. Plus, the Lannister men were there far too fast. It should have been at least a day and a halfs’ ride, once news hit them, but they were there far sooner than that.”

Oberyn sighed heavily and sat on a nearby stone bench. “I do not know of any poisons, no. But I know it is possible to weaken the body with a poison, and infect a person with something else so that it has a quicker effect. But it is complicated and hard not to be caught, I doubt but a few even know how. Who do you think would have done it?”

“Tywin.” She said, shyly. “Someone on his orders.

“Your house served Tywin. Why would he do that?”  
  
“We were a powerful house, once. But diminishing. Our money was old money, there was no real power behind it anymore. Tywin saw it as an opportunity. Besides, I think my father was too sympathetic towards the Tyrells, so he and his knights were no longer very loyal to Tywin and there was talk of breaking off. Tywin didn’t need any more enemies.”

Oberyn watched her for awhile, but she was nearly certain he didn’t believe her.

“Your house did have a great deal of gold, yes. But you inherited it, no? What did Tywin stand to gain from having them killed, if you survived?”

_He didn’t know,_ she thought.

“Tywin took two thirds of my inheritance.” She answered slowly. “Plus what the property and our orchards were worth. Tywin runs all Woodhall’s apple orchards now, plus the strawberry fields and the rest of it. He made the excuse that I forfeited the rights to all of that when I ran.”

“He what?” Oberyn looked scandalized. “I knew he claimed Woodhall, but I had no idea about the gold. How dare he!”

She shook her head. What good did gold do her? Not that houses didn’t always want more of it, but she doubted Sunspear was in desperate need of it. Or maybe they were, that one third she inherited made a significant dowry, perhaps that was the reason they had accepted to the marriage.

“Does Doran know he took that much of it?” Oberyn asked slowly.

“I doubt it, but I don’t know.”

“But what does Tywin need gold for?”

“Oh, do you not know?” Jeya guessed Tywin was better than she had hoped at controlling rumors.  “The crown, and to some extent Tywin, has been deeply in debt almost since King Robert took the Throne. It’s one of many of King’s Landing’s main concerns, how to pay off just enough debts to not have to pay off the rest. And since Tywin’s whole legacy is tied with his daughter and grandchildren on the throne, he makes that his concern.”

“Tywin mines enough to support as much as he can spend, does he not?”

“Hardly. The mines have been running low for years. I suppose he has managed to keep it a secret, if you do not already know.” She knew it was naive to believe that Doran didn’t have his fair share of spies around.

“How do you know all this?” Oberyn frowned.

“Oh.” She blushed. “Tywin controlled my whole future while I was there, and told me very little of it. I got very good at sneaking around and eavesdropping, and I heard many councils that were not about me, too.”

“Did you?” Oberyn suddenly looked very interested. “You know much of his plans, then?”

“He wasn’t at the Rock the entire time I was, so I only know what conversations were held there. But far more than he would like, and far more than many.” She shrugged.

“You,” Oberyn said slowly “could be very valuable. How much would you be willing to share with Doran and I?”

“Is it true, what Tywin fears? That you two are still plotting against Tywin and the hold he has over the Iron Throne?”

“If it is?”

“Then I would tell you anything.”

“It is true.”

“Brilliant.” She grinned widely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Yeah I’m apparently mixing show and book canon, I don’t think the mines are actually low at all in the books? Or at least not yet.)


	10. Chapter 10

That night, Oberyn invited her to dine alone with himself and Ellaria. Jeya hadn’t seen Ellaria since her first day here, but she remembered what Oberyn told her Ellaria had said, about her being kind and beautiful, and she was interested to get to know Ellaria better. Even if she didn’t know how to feel, exactly, about her betrothed’s paramour.

And she wasn’t sure how Ellaria really felt about her. Ellaria had been kind so far, but would she resent Jeya for being wed to Oberyn while Ellaria could not be?

She was in her chambers reading when a knock at the door sounded. Jeya opened it, expecting Oberyn, but was surprised to instead see Ellaria and Arianne.

“May we come in?” Ellaria asked with a polite smile and nod, and Jeya stood back to let them enter.

“I have a confession to make,” Arianne told her. “Ellaria and I, well it was my fault, we overheard you talking to your maid the other day.”

Jeya was confused for a moment, trying to remember when she had said anything important to any of her maids here.

“Outside your chambers? The one from Casterly Rock?”

“Oh!” Jeya’s eyes widened.

“We are sorry for not telling you sooner,” Ellaria told her apologetically.

It made a lot of sense, she realized. That must be why Ellaria had told Oberyn that she was kind. How else would Ellaria have decided that? From watching Tywin bully her? That was the only time they had met.

“It is fine.” Jeya gave them a small smile. It wasn’t as though she, of all people, could judge anyone for eavesdropping.

“It was very sweet of you to help her like that,” Arianne said. “Will Tywin be angry about the jewels?”

“I think so, but I doubt there is anything he can do about it. He won’t know I’m not wearing them until the morning of the wedding, hopefully, and he won’t cause a scene then, I don’t think.” Not in front of all those Martells and Dornish noblemen.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Ellaria asked.

“I doubt it, but I thank you for the offer.”

“Father has been trying to contain Tywin to the guest wing his company is in.” Arianne told her. “Mostly because he doesn’t wish to see him more than necessary, but I imagine you might be glad of it too?”

“I… am very glad of it.”

“Tywin has started asking to visit you, when father refuses to see him. Father is confined to his wheelchair much of the time, and he doesn’t like to present himself that way to foreigners. Plus he doesn't want to spend much time with a Lannister. So instead he’s insisting all his bannermen who are here show Tywin around the city or tell him of Dornish history.”

“Tywin must be loving that,” Jeya couldn’t help laughing. “He was angry enough that Prince Doran wasn’t personally there to greet us when he arrived.”

On the day they had arrived the party reached Sunspear later in the day than expected, but none of the royal family had been there to greet them upon arrival. Only the castellan Ser Manfrey Martell and Prince Doran’s old and blind seneschal Ricasso, among a party of other minor nobles, had been there; and Tywin had taken it as the insult it was likely meant to be.

“I feel I should apologize to you for that, too.” Arianne told her. “My father wouldn’t go or allow me to go alone and my uncle refused to play nice to Lannister men. He still does, actually, I think what my father isn’t telling me is that he’s keeping Tywin occupied to try to avoid him having encounters with Oberyn as much as anything else. But we didn’t mean to make you feel unwelcome, only to offend Tywin Lannister.”

“I told Oberyn he should have been there.” Ellaria shook her head.

“Even if he had he would have been just as likely to start a fight as to do anything positive," Arianne countered.

“Still, it wasn’t just rude to Tywin for him to not be there.”

“It didn’t bother me,” Jeya lied. “I’m glad it worked, and Tywin was offended.”

Ellaria laughed, not unkindly. “Just don’t tell Oberyn that, it’ll only encourage him.

"I also wanted to apologize for what you overheard Oberyn and I saying the other day... you didn't deserve that," Ellaria told her once Arianne had left.

"You don't have to apologize, it wasn't you who said anything you shouldn't have."

"Perhaps. But all the same I am sorry for what you heard, I hope you didn't take it too much to heart."

"Prince Oberyn told me what you said later, and that you told him we should get to know each other. Thank you for that."

Ellaria nodded, giving her a small smile. "I confess I was worried when we heard that Oberyn was to wed, especially a bride with ties to the Lannisters, I feared you would... disapprove. Of me and my girls."

"I don't," she said quickly, perhaps too quickly, because though Ellaria had still spoken kindly, there was a sharpness in the way she watched her, waiting for Jeya's answer. "I didn't expect to be wed to someone who already has a family like Prince Oberyn does, but I truly wouldn't hold that against your girls, or against you."

"That is good to hear." The sharpness had faded from Ellaria's eyes, almost entirely. "I would much rather us be friends than enemies."

"As would I.”

 

At dinner, Jeya spent a lot of time watching Ellaria. It was true that she might not be beautiful in the way, for instance, Princess Arianne was, dark hair surrounding perfect features, and deep eyes that were always intensely watching something. But Ellaria was beautiful. She was tall and slim, and the dark olive green dress she wore complimented her skin, smooth and clear. Her dark curls were tied softly back so that they framed her face nicely, and stayed out of her way.

She was definitely hard to look away from, physical features aside. Ellaria was impeccably graceful in every movement, from the way she laughed, to the way she tilted her head when she was listening to someone speak, to the way every time she smiled at you you lost track of all else in the world and got lost in her.

The three of them talked about food and the library at first, and Jeya was glad to get the feeling that Oberyn hardly knew what to say to her any more than she did to him; at least she wasn’t the only one straining for interesting conversation topics. Perhaps he was as uncomfortable asking her about herself as she was asking Oberyn and Ellaria about themselves?

“Something Arianne asked you at dinner the other night made me curious,” he said when they had pretty thoroughly exhausted all there was to say about the library. “Why did you never leave Fairmarket?”

Or, perhaps not.

“I was afraid to, I suppose,” she sighed. “It seemed a better place than most to stop for a time. Every day I told myself I could leave the next if I needed to, but there hadn’t been a word of Lannisters, and I couldn’t ask without drawing attention.”

“That’s reasonable,” Oberyn told her.

“Brynn always said so,” Jeya smiled. “My maid, that is. I still wonder if they would have found me, if I had gone on farther. Even Tywin is short on spies on the other side of the world.”

“How did they find you?” Ellaria asked.

“By accident, mostly. I think Tywin thought I had gone south, for some reason. The Lannister knights who came to town weren’t even looking for me, but they caught a glimpse of me before I knew who they were, and I suppose recognized the description. Apparently they had been looking for me a year earlier, after I first ran away, when my family’s friends were looking too. They started asking questions, and by that time I had packed and ran, but they caught up.”

She put down her fork, suddenly not hungry for the last bites of her dinner. Knowing what she knew now she’d never have run in the first place, and she didn’t want to talk to Oberyn about it. Couldn’t he have asked about anything else?

Oberyn didn’t seem to notice her discomfort, but Ellaria did.

“I’m sorry we asked, we didn’t mean to upset you,” she said.

“I apologize,” Oberyn said, but he was looking at Ellaria when he said it. “We can talk about something else. It’s just strange, that you ran, that he chased you… I wondered.”

“Well I wasn’t sure what to do when I found my parents dead and thought he might have killed them,” Jeya told him more defensively than she meant to.

“I’m so sorry,” Ellaria told her softly, and gave Oberyn a look, though Jeya wasn’t sure exactly what about. The looks between them, silent communication she had no part of, and how obviously close they were made her almost as uncomfortable as the conversation did.

Perhaps Oberyn wasn’t sure what the look was about either, or he didn’t care, because he blurted out, “why did you think he’d killed them?”

Ellaria audibly sighed at him.

“You told me it was fast, and Lannister men arrived quickly, was that all?”

“Mostly, and the maester told me it was unnaturally fast and that there might be something going on, so he suggested I leave. I don’t know what he meant… I don’t know if he only told me to leave because he knew if I did Tywin could claim Woodhall, and I wish now I hadn’t left at all, is that what you want to hear?”

She shouldn’t have to defend herself to him. Jeya clenched her hands tightly in her lap. She shouldn’t. But she had, and now she felt dangerously close to tears. Again. It was getting to be a habit.

“I didn’t mean… sorry,” Oberyn muttered.

They sat in painfully heavy silence for a minute. Jeya wished dinners, and everything else, here weren’t always so complicated. Ellaria kept giving Oberyn furious looks, but at least Jeya could understand what the looks she was giving him now meant.

“If you’re finished eating, Oberyn, it’s getting late. You should go say goodnight to the girls,” Ellaria spoke firmly and finally broke the silence. “Jeya, if you like I could walk you back to your chambers.”

Jeya nodded and gave her a small smile, and they all stood.

“Good night, Jeya,” Oberyn told her when they parted ways, but he barely looked at her or Ellaria.

“I’m sorry about all that,” Ellaria took her arm gently while they walked.

“You don’t have to apologize.” It occurred to Jeya that this was the second time in almost as many conversations that Ellaria apologized to her for things Oberyn said. Did she usually have to apologize for him this much?

“And Oberyn doesn’t have to say whatever is on his mind, yet here we are,” Ellaria shook her head. “I just thought one nice, calm dinner would do all three of us good, but apparently we can’t even have that.”

Jeya actually found herself laughing.

“I was just wondering how long it would take of me being here before I got to have just one easy conversation,” she admitted.

“Hopefully not very much longer,” Ellaria told her with a smile. “Will you give me another chance, and him? In two days there’s to be a feast when Ser Yronwood, Lord Fowler, and Lady Blackmont all arrive, but earlier in the day Oberyn and I were talking about taking some of our younger girls into town. I thought you might like to come, and see the Shadow City?”

“I would like that, yes,” Jeya said. The Shadow City she would definitely like to see, going with Oberyn and Ellaria she would probably like, and meeting the younger girls possibly not at all, but at least they were less intimidating than the older ones. She was pretty sure the youngest was only three.

“Good,” Ellaria said when they reached her door. “I’m sure we’ll likely see you before then as well, and I’ll definitely try to make sure Oberyn behaves himself better when we do.”


End file.
